This page contains reviews of any resources that explore future initiatives or emergent technologies.
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills This week’s evaluation is of the website for the organization Partnership for 21st Century Skills. “the leading advocacy organization focused on infusing 21st century skills into education. Their purpose/mission is as follows:“The organization brings together the business community, education leaders, and policymakers to define a powerful vision for 21st century education to ensure every child’s success as citizens and workers in the 21st century. The Partnership encourages schools, districts and states to advocate for the infusion of 21st century skills into education and provides tools and resources to help facilitate and drive change.” — Partnership for 21st Century Skills The first thing I noticed upon entering the site was the vast amount of information available. This is a great but a bit overwhelming . While I appreciate the variety of information this is definitely not a site you can browse quickly. One of the things that impressed me most was the snapshots area ,which links to the George Lucas Foundation produced website Edutopia. Each snapshot supports core subjects and 21st century themes by giving several examples of how a particular 21st century skill is being taught. I was very surprised at the diversity of the snapshots and the amazing and awe inspiring abilities of the kids shown.Noteworthy snapshots include self proclaimed visual learner and Whiz Kid Cameron who has created multiple youtube tutorials and music videos employing his self produced ”green screen” and Jesica Blandon’s, a sophomore at the Bronx’s DreamYard Preparatory School, performance of her passionate poem “I Was Told Mama Had All the Answers” . I also appreciated the numerous resources provided and the manner in which they were organized. Site users have the option of browsing by “Support System”, “Skill”, or “Knowledge” and each category additionally contains sub-sections. The 5 starrating system used to evaluate the resources was also beneficial. As the world becomes flattened through Globalization 3.0, the playing field is being leveled and the world continues to shrink (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/magazine/03DOMINANCE.html). After being introduced to this site, it’s plethora of resources, and most of all the wonderful student applications of technological resources I am convinced that the United States is still a major player in the global technology race. The jobs lost to technology and to other countries are not coming back but, with the amount of information available and our most valuable resources, future generations, there is no reason that the U.S. can’t once again be the world leader in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). As teachers we must do our best to ingrain in students the skills of **Expert Thinking** and **Complex Communication**. Failure to do so will result in a nation of citizens who don’t have the employability skills needed to respond to ” …respond to the literacy demands of the workplace and to successfully perform job duties, learn, and apply learning on the job.” (Bates & Phelan, 2002).
Rating: 1/2
Kathy Schrock's Page
If you're looking for an all around education technology space then this may be the site for you. Nauset Public Schools Technology Administrator Kathy Schrock has put together a wonderful collection of articles, slide shows, technology blog sites, and presentation and workshop ideas, On this site she shares self created online resources as well as anything new in technology. The self proclaimed "Gadget Queen" has an entire page dedicated to the most popular, controversial, or informative blogs and gives viewers the option of submitting additions to the list for evaluation. Additionally, the site contains a vast number of links to online pages which support her online presentations. It's like an educational Wal-mart--one stop shopping!
Rating:
This blog is a collaborative effort assembled by the educators within the Billings School District in Montana. The site, which is almost run as a wiki, reviews emergent technology and related uses and applications in the classroom. The creators are focused on the fact that emergent technologies will shape the future of education. The contributors also post tutorials and explanations of online resources; recent posts break down the concepts behind Twitter, PB Works, and Google Docs. The site offers links to contributors’ blogs and other resourceful sites. All archived posts are easy to locate, however, the site lacks an internal search function. This is a phenomenal resource for teachers and the site operators run it to inform teachers about emergent technologies. The blog does seem to be on a hiatus, as the most recent post is approximately three months old. This is a good site to subscribe to and watch; teachers will find a plethora of resources to add to their educator's toolbox.
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills
This week’s evaluation is of the website for the organization Partnership for 21st Century Skills. “the leading advocacy organization focused on infusing 21st century skills into education. Their purpose/mission is as follows:“The organization brings together the business community, education leaders, and policymakers to define a powerful vision for 21st century education to ensure every child’s success as citizens and workers in the 21st century. The Partnership encourages schools, districts and states to advocate for the infusion of 21st century skills into education and provides tools and resources to help facilitate and drive change.”
— Partnership for 21st Century Skills
The first thing I noticed upon entering the site was the vast amount of information available. This is a great but a bit overwhelming . While I appreciate the variety of information this is definitely not a site you can browse quickly. One of the things that impressed me most was the snapshots area ,which links to the George Lucas Foundation produced website Edutopia. Each snapshot supports core subjects and 21st century themes by giving several examples of how a particular 21st century skill is being taught. I was very surprised at the diversity of the snapshots and the amazing and awe inspiring abilities of the kids shown. Noteworthy snapshots include self proclaimed visual learner and Whiz Kid Cameron who has created multiple youtube tutorials and music videos employing his self produced ”green screen” and Jesica Blandon’s, a sophomore at the Bronx’s DreamYard Preparatory School, performance of her passionate poem “I Was Told Mama Had All the Answers” .
I also appreciated the numerous resources provided and the manner in which they were organized. Site users have the option of browsing by “Support System”, “Skill”, or “Knowledge” and each category additionally contains sub-sections. The 5 star rating system used to evaluate the resources was also beneficial.
As the world becomes flattened through Globalization 3.0, the playing field is being leveled and the world continues to shrink (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/magazine/03DOMINANCE.html). After being introduced to this site, it’s plethora of resources, and most of all the wonderful student applications of technological resources I am convinced that the United States is still a major player in the global technology race. The jobs lost to technology and to other countries are not coming back but, with the amount of information available and our most valuable resources, future generations, there is no reason that the U.S. can’t once again be the world leader in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). As teachers we must do our best to ingrain in students the skills of **Expert Thinking** and **Complex Communication**. Failure to do so will result in a nation of citizens who don’t have the employability skills needed to respond to ” …respond to the literacy demands of the workplace and to successfully perform job duties, learn, and apply learning on the job.” (Bates & Phelan, 2002).
Rating:
Kathy Schrock's Page
If you're looking for an all around education technology space then this may be the site for you. Nauset Public Schools Technology Administrator Kathy Schrock has put together a wonderful collection of articles, slide shows, technology blog sites, and presentation and workshop ideas, On this site she shares self created online resources as well as anything new in technology. The self proclaimed "Gadget Queen" has an entire page dedicated to the most popular, controversial, or informative blogs and gives viewers the option of submitting additions to the list for evaluation. Additionally, the site contains a vast number of links to online pages which support her online presentations. It's like an educational Wal-mart--one stop shopping!
Rating:
Emerging Technology in Education (Blog)
This blog is a collaborative effort assembled by the educators within the Billings School District in Montana. The site, which is almost run as a wiki, reviews emergent technology and related uses and applications in the classroom. The creators are focused on the fact that emergent technologies will shape the future of education. The contributors also post tutorials and explanations of online resources; recent posts break down the concepts behind Twitter, PB Works, and Google Docs. The site offers links to contributors’ blogs and other resourceful sites. All archived posts are easy to locate, however, the site lacks an internal search function. This is a phenomenal resource for teachers and the site operators run it to inform teachers about emergent technologies. The blog does seem to be on a hiatus, as the most recent post is approximately three months old. This is a good site to subscribe to and watch; teachers will find a plethora of resources to add to their educator's toolbox.
Video post from site:
Rating:
Review by Michael Herron